


Fundamental Parameters (A Bathroom Scene Remix)

by aspiringwordsmith



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, cause that's the good shit!!!, like Big Time like J Rewrites the Whole Show a Little
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-11-29 05:52:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11434509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aspiringwordsmith/pseuds/aspiringwordsmith
Summary: Concept: the SQUIP is a form of AI that operates on fundamental parameters. The MAIN OBJECTIVE – set by the user during initial system configuration – is one of these parameters. If the user attempts to change or counter the MAIN OBJECTIVE, the SQUIP interprets this as an attempt to break the fundamental parameter and enters an ERROR STATE from which it cannot recover.In which Michael discovers another way to get rid of a squip, Jeremy is less of a dick in that bathroom scene, and a kiss saves the day.





	1. Told You I Did My Research!

**Author's Note:**

> I have taken 1 whole coding course so I get to make up techy-sounding shit and you all just gotta roll with it. 
> 
> This version includes the prequel chapter that's basically just the backstory of Michael researching the squip...it's pretty bad & implausible tbh so feel free to skip straight to chapter 2 -- it can be read as a standalone.
> 
> I wanted the bit that Michael google translates from Japanese to sound clunky, but running it through bad translators made it completely indecipherable, so I left it as pretty standard English w/out contractions. I know it sounds super weird. But, ya know. Whatever.
> 
> Find me on tumblr at [bloodclawspause](https://bloodclawspause.tumblr.com/), my BMC sideblog, or on my main, [preciouscauliflower](https://preciouscauliflower.tumblr.com/).

Michael trudged down the stairs to his basement and flung himself onto his bed, backpack and all. Another day, another failed attempt at getting Jeremy to talk to him again, or even  _ see _ him, for christ’s sake. Every time they crossed paths, Jeremy seemed to be looking in any direction but his. Even when Michael was standing right in front of him, Jeremy’s glassy eyes slid over him like he wasn’t there. It wasn’t just mean; it was creepy. And it was really starting to freak Michael out. 

With each passing day, Michael was becoming more and more convinced that this squip thing was bad news. A supercomputer that advanced should’ve made the front page of every tech journal in the world. So why hadn’t he been able to find any trace of it online? It didn’t make  _ sense. _

The story that his Warcraft buddy told him about his brother had been a breakthrough -- but not a good one. Michael had pressed him for more information, but Stealthbeard (his real name was Ryan, but Michael still mentally referred to him by his screen name) hadn’t responded to any of his messages in almost a week. Another bad sign. Michael wanted desperately to warn Jeremy. But how was he supposed to do that when Jeremy was actively avoiding him? 

Heaving a sigh, Michael sat up and pulled his laptop onto his lap. He typed in his password and inhaled sharply when his eyes caught on the small red notification number above the skype app in his dock. Maybe it was Jeremy, finally reaching out to him! He clicked it open.

His heart sunk for a moment upon seeing that it wasn’t, in fact, Jeremy, but he quickly regained interest when he registered that it was Stealthbeard who had finally responded. He opened the chat log. 

_ This is all I’ve ever been able to find, _ read the first message. It was followed by a link to a website Michael had never heard of. A third, final message simply read  _ good luck. _

Hardly breathing now, Michael clicked the link, tapping his keyboard impatiently as he waited for the page to load. When it appeared, the site seemed to be entirely in Japanese. Frowning, Michael hit the “translate” button at the top of the browser, hoping chrome wouldn’t butcher the meaning too much. 

From what Michael could tell, the page was a thread discussing the latest in artificial intelligence. The participants all seemed to be software developers themselves, judging by the über-complex discussions he was reading. Michael saw several words he didn’t recognize but which he assumed must be acronyms or brand names, the same way “squip” was. He scrolled through blocks of complicated technical text, bits of code, suggestions and arguments exchanged between different anonymous users. Then, towards the bottom of the thread, he found it.

_ And what regarding SQUIP proto 2, are those flaws all sorted?  _

_ Devs are still having trouble with main objective parameter. Can not seem to code around it without extensive rewrite.  _

_ Explain main objective parameter? I do not know of this _

_ Their SQUIP operates on fundamental parameters. Once the user confirms his main objective, achievement is set as unbreakable parameter.  _

_ Can this be reset? _

_ No, that is their issue. Only after achievement of the initial goal can a new one be set. Change in the user’s desires is interpreted as an attempt to break the fundamental parameter, and the squip enters an error state it can not recover from.  _

_ This could extend their project timeline several years, no? _

_ That’s my hope. Could we beat them to it? _

_ Maybe. Let’s talk offline. _

This was the end of the sub-thread. Michael checked, double-checked, and triple-checked -- the two mysterious commenters must have known each other and taken their conversation elsewhere. His stomach lurched briefly at the thought of competing squip manufacturers, but he’d have to set that aside for now. If this flaw they’d been discussing should’ve held the project up for years -- and if the timestamp on the site was correct -- then they couldn’t have fixed it yet. Which meant that unless those two had succeeded, the squips on the black market now…

Michael reopened skype and rattled off a quick reply to Stealthbeard. 

_ Do you think this is legit? _

To his relief, Stealthbeard started typing almost immediately. 

_ No idea. Found it 2 late to try on Ethan. _

Oh. Michael felt a pang of sadness for his friend and his brother, followed by a surge of determination that the same wouldn’t happen to Jeremy. He’d just have to exploit this bug, somehow! 

But he had to be careful. He typed out a reply.  _ Do you think it’s dangerous? It says the squip enters an error state, what’ll that do to him?  _ Michael shuddered to think what would happen if the squip malfunctioned and took Jeremy’s brain over the edge with it. 

Stealthbeard started typing, stopped for what felt like an eternity, and then started again. Michael hunched over the screen, watching the text above the chat bar with bated breath. 

_ My theory is that it’ll probably just become a useless bit of metal again. I figure, most computer malfunctions don’t cause explosions or anything. The code just stops running.  _

Michael straightened, somewhat relieved, but Stealthbeard was still typing.

_ But idk, man. This shit is so advanced, it’s like it’s not self-contained. It works /with/ your brain, /in/ your brain, like it’s all one system. So if it malfunctions...I just don’t know, man.  _

Michael nodded, forgetting for a moment that his friend couldn’t see him. Stealthbeard was right, though -- this thing was so deep in Jeremy’s mind, there was no telling what it might do if it started to break. It might break Jeremy with it. But if what Stealthbeard told him was true (and Michael believed it was) then the squip might just break Jeremy anyway. 

_ Do you think it’s worth the risk?  _ Michael typed slowly.

Stealthbeard’s response was instant.  _ Absolutely. _

Michael’s mind was made up. He thanked his friend for the info and opened a new window. Now he just had to change Jeremy’s main objective…to something other than Christine.

Michael groaned. This was gonna be  _ so _ much harder than the cafetorium.


	2. Sleeping Beauty

Jeremy pressed his back hard against the bathroom door. Breathing fast, he listened as footsteps slammed past his hiding place. When it finally seemed like Jake had given up on finding him, Jeremy took the few shaky steps required to cross the bathroom and sat down on the floor beside the tub.

And then he felt the hand on his head.

“AAAAGH!” Jeremy was back against the door before he’d even registered what had happened. The thing in the tub was removing its mask, now, only to reveal–

“Sup.”

Michael?

“Michael?” blurted Jeremy. “I didn’t know you were invited to this party.”

Michael’s expression was unreadable. Jeremy felt distinctly uncomfortable – he’d expected Michael to be laughing his ass off after startling him, but his eyes held no trace of amusement. “I wasn’t,” said Michael, deadpan. “Which is why I’m wearing this clever disguise.”

Jeremy just stared at him. It had been, what, a few  _weeks_  since he’d seen Michael? He knew he’d been missing his friend – hell, the squip zapped him for thinking about Michael almost as much as for thinking about about sex – but seeing him now made Jeremy feel as if a hollow ache he hadn’t been conscious of had just left his chest.

“You’re speechless. Squip got your tongue?”

“It’s…off,” said Jeremy, feeling suddenly, sickeningly guilty. A month. If his memory was correct, it had been a  _month_  since he’d last seen Michael.

“That would explain why you’re talking to me,” Michael said. “I’ve been thinking about this moment. What I would say to you? I had this really pissed off monologue, an epic journey through twelve years of friendsh– _ooph_.”

Without thinking, Jeremy had rushed forward and hugged Michael, hands digging hard into his back.

“Jeremy?” Michael asked, sounding surprised.

“It’s really good to see you, man,” Jeremy said simply into Michael’s shoulder.

He felt Michael return the hug, then push him gently but firmly away. He frowned. “If it’s so good to see me, why have you been avoiding me?”

Jeremy avoided his eyes. Michael’s hands still gripped his shoulders, grounding him. “I didn’t want to,” he began. “But the squip said–”

“That you had to ditch me to have any shot at being cool?” Michael offered. Jeremy gave the barest of nods, still staring hard at the bathroom floor. “Yeah. Cool and me don’t go together, Jeremy.”

Jeremy frowned. “That’s not true.”

Michael shook his head. “You know it is,” he said, and he looked so certain of this that it broke Jeremy’s heart a little.

“It _isn’t_ – and look, I don’t wanna be cool, anyway, okay? I just wanna be…not so  _weird_ all the time.” Jeremy finally met Michael’s eyes, feeling helpless. “Is that so wrong?”

“I don’t know, Jeremy.” Michael looked hurt. “Am I so  _weird_  you can’t have me around any–”

“No! No, Michael, that’s not what I–” Jeremy sighed. “That’s not what I meant.” He picked absentmindedly at his costume. “I’ve been a shit friend. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let him talk me into – I shouldn’t have put being cool before everything else like that.”

“No shit,” said Michael, but his gaze was softening.

“Listen, when the squip comes back online, I’m gonna turn off the optic nerve blocking, and then we can _both_ –”

“Wait. Optic nerve blocking?”

“Yeah, it’s why I couldn’t see you.”

Michael looked appalled. “You mean it can– he can  _literally_ –”

“Yeah,” said Jeremy, excited now, “b-but I’m gonna have him stop, and tell him I’m not gonna do this without you, and then–”

“Dude, you can’t seriously still want that thing in your head,” Michael said, sounding bewildered.

Jeremy hesitated. “I know it’s a little creepy–”

“I don’t think you fully appreciate the level of creepy that it is–”

“But it’s  _helping_!” Jeremy spread his arms. “Dude, look where we are!”

Michael made a show of glancing from the bathtub to the locked door. “Um…we’re in a bathroom.”

“Jake  _Dillinger’s_  bathroom, man! At the biggest party of the year!”

Michael crossed his arms. “ _I_  wasn’t invited – and didn’t you get chased  _in_  here by Jake Dillinger?”

He had a point, but. “Temporary setback. Listen, when the squip comes back online–”

“No. Jeremy, we can’t  _let_  that thing come back online. It’s too dangerous!” Michael ran a nervous hand through his hair, and Jeremy was momentarily distracted by the soft way it stuck up. “Listen, I did some research–”

“How? There’s nothing on the internet—”

“Which is weird, right?” said Michael imploringly, throwing his hands up. “I mean, what’s not on the internet? So I starting asking around. Finally, this guy I play Warcraft with told me how his brother went from a straight D student to a freshman at Harvard. You know where he is now?”

Jeremy didn’t like where this was going. “Really happy and successful?” he ventured.

Michael shook his head grimly. “He’s in a mental hospital,” he said, voice soft. “Totally lost it.”

Jeremy bit his lip. He’d be the first to admit that the squip was….a little unnerving. Yeah, it made him do things he wouldn’t normally do. Things he regretted. Jeremy wasn’t sure he liked the squip’s idea of “correct” human interaction, and he  _definitely_  didn’t like the way it had persuaded him to ditch Michael. But it didn’t seem like the squip was going to drive him off the deep end any time soon. Besides, he reasoned, he only needed to put up with the squip for as long as it took to woo Christine. Then he could work out how to get rid of it. Maybe Michael’s friend just couldn’t handle having a voice in his head. “I don’t see what that has to do with…”

“Think, man! We’re talking an insanely powerful supercomputer. You really think its primary function is to get you laid?” Jeremy made to interrupt, but Michael was on a roll now. “Who made them? How did they end up in a high school? In New Jersey? Of all possible applications for such a mind-blowingly advanced technology, you ever wonder what it’s doing inside  _you_?”

Jeremy…honestly hadn’t. He just figured that some tech wizards were trying to make some easy money on their experimental drug. But Michael always had been the smarter one. Could there really be some sinister hidden agenda here?

“Jeremy, please. I’ve done my research, and this is some seriously dangerous shit. I’m…I’m worried about you.”

Jeremy felt like crying. The realization of what he’d done to Michael was still actively crashing down on him, and here was the boy in question, looking at him with nothing but genuine love and concern. “Michael…” he started, voice strangled. “What do you –  _agh_!” Jeremy clamped his hands around his ears as a high-pitched wail like a kettle boiling filled his mind. From the confused look on Michael’s face, he couldn’t hear it – which meant it must’ve been coming from inside of Jeremy’s head.

_System rebooting. Analyzing stored data._

Jeremy sat down hard on the edge of the tub and tried to take deep breaths. Michael’s face swam into view as the sound stopped. “Jeremy! Talk to me, man, what’s going on?

Jeremy sighed, removing his hands from his ears and burying his face in them. “Squip’s booting up,” he mumbled.

“Don’t listen to it. Listen to me.” Michael was sitting on the closed toilet seat and holding him gently by the shoulders. “My Warcraft buddy linked me to this tech forum, and well– it’s all he’s been able to find, but it might be your chance to get rid of this thing.” Jeremy felt warm hands cover his and pull them gently away from his face. “Jeremy? You with me, buddy?”

Jeremy’s ears had stopped ringing, but the light kind of hurt his eyes. He nodded. Michael’s face was very close. It looked scared.

“Apparently, there’s a loophole in the code,” Michael said, speaking very quickly. “Once you set a main objective, that becomes one of the fundamental parameters for the AI – one of the rules the squip can’t break. Yours is going out with Christine, I guess. But get this: the squip isn’t self-contained. It works  _with_ your brain, uses your processing power as part of its function–”

Jeremy could hear a note of admiration in Michael’s voice that meant his friend was apt to go off on a very geeky tangent. Normally, that was…adorable, for lack of a better word, but Jeremy wanted to hear whatever Michael had to say before the squip returned in full. “Cut to the chase, Michael, what would I need to do?”

Michael flushed. “Right, uh! So basically, if you go against that parameter – if you actually stop wanting the main objective you set – the squip interprets that as an attempt to break its number one rule, and it shuts down,” he finished breathlessly. “….I think.”

“You think?” Jeremy said.

“I’m not exactly working off the official manual, here!” Michael exclaimed.

Jeremy sighed. “Sorry. I know there’s not a lot to go on.” He bounced his leg, thinking hard. “So I’ve just got to…stop liking Christine,” he said dubiously.

Michael cleared his throat. “Yeah. I know it doesn’t work that way, but…I don’t know. I thought you could try?”

Jeremy shrugged helplessly. Maybe he could stop pursuing Christine, but to change the way he felt about her? He didn’t know if it was possible.

Michael seemed to pick up on his uncertainty. “Yeah,” he said, sympathetic. “I know that’s a big ask. But you gotta believe me when I say that this squip thing is bad news.” He met Jeremy’s eyes imploringly, and his expression was so earnest it made Jeremy’s heart skip a beat. “Feelings are messy, man. I dunno. Is there anyone else you might want to be with? Like, could you see yourself staying with Brooke?”

“No,” said Jeremy immediately, and then, feeling bad, “I mean, she’s really sweet, she’s just…we don’t have much in common.”

Michael nodded. “Right. Hmm. Uh, what about Madeline? I heard a rumor that you guys were a thing–”

Jeremy laughed. “No, that’s– the squip made that one up. Geez, Michael, did you really believe that?”

Michael laughed, too, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I don’t know, man. I don’t know what to believe about you these days.” He let out a shaky sigh.

Jeremy’s stomach sank. He and Michael were always on the same wavelength – so synchronized it was as if they shared a brain. Had he really changed so much that his best friend couldn’t tell what he was thinking anymore? “I’m still the same guy, Michael. Just a little less awkward, and…”

“And a lot more of a dick?” Michael suggested.

“Yeah,” said Jeremy, wincing at the way his voice broke. “Yeah, I deserve that one. But that stops now, I swear,” he promised. “And…” he forced himself to meet Michael’s eyes. “And I’m sorry,” he said, and it was like a dam breaking. “So sorry, man, I’ve been  _such_  a–”

“It’s fine,” said Michael curtly, looking away. “Seriously. Forget it.”

Jeremy rambled on. “Are you sure? Because I’d get it, i-if you weren’t–”

“No!” said Michael quickly, a little too loud. “No, just…” Jeremy saw him take a deep breath. “…do you…seriously still want me around? You’re not sick of me?”

Jeremy’s stomach lurched again This was his fault. He’d made Michael feel this way. His words tumbled out in a rush. “God, no! I could never be sick of you, Michael, y-you’re…” He couldn’t find the words, suddenly, for all the things that Michael was. “You’re my best friend,” he finished lamely, and then – “I mean, you’re  _amazing_ , dude. You’re a genius and you’re hilarious and you’re the kindest person I know, even when I’m being an  _asshole_ –”

“Okay, hey, I  _get_  it,” said Michael, laughing at his enthusiasm but flushing at the praise. “Just making sure,” he said. He was looking at Jeremy like he’d hung the moon. Jeremy swallowed.

_Don’t do that._

The voice was like ice in his mind, and Jeremy shivered.  _What–_

_You were thinking about kissing him. Don’t._

Jeremy blinked.  _I wasn’t–_

_You were._  
  
“What’s wrong?” Michael asked, noticing his friend’s sudden change in demeanor.

“Squip’s back.”

Michael’s expression turned stormy. “Don’t listen to it. Listen to me. Think – is there anyone else you might want to be with? It could be, like, a celebrity crush, dude, I’m pretty sure that’d still work.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Jeremy saw the squip materialize next to the sink. It looked annoyed.  _He’s clearly jealous_ , it intoned, staring angrily at Michael.  _He’s only trying to interfere with your end goal. Christine? Remember? You want her, not him._  
  
Jeremy turned to face it.  _What if I’ve changed my mind?_  he thought angrily.  
  
The squip scoffed.  _You haven’t. I know what you want, Jeremy, and it’s not this._  
  
 _Why should I listen to you?_  
 __  
What reason would I have to lie? the squip said, haughty.  
  
Jeremy glanced at Michael, who was staring nervously between Jeremy and the empty space he was staring at. “Jeremy?” He sounded desperate. “Hey, snap out of it, buddy. You gotta pick somebody else! It’s the only way to get rid of that thing.”

_He’s lying!_ hissed the squip, as if this should be obvious.  _If you do that, you’ll lose everything we’ve worked for!_  
  
But Jeremy was finally seeing clearly. He glared up at the squip.  _He’s not. You’re the liar._ Jeremy looked down at Michael again.  _He’s my best friend. He’s been trying to help this whole time._  Jeremy could feel his heart pounding hard in his chest as he gazed steadily into Michael’s wide eyes. How could he have missed this for so long? He threw his last thought at the squip like a final blow.  _And I think I’m in love with him._  
  
DON’T–  
  
Jeremy surged forward and kissed Michael hard.

* * *

Jeremy would later say it felt like being struck by lightning, but that was inaccurate. Kissing Michael felt warm and soft and wonderful for about two seconds.  _Then_  it felt like being struck by lightning, because the squip started wailing pitifully in his brain, sending electric shocks up and down his spine.

He struggled to remain conscious, but his brain felt like a fried egg and the room was already going dark. The last thing Jeremy heard before blacking out was the squip and Michael shouting his name in unison.

* * *

Jeremy had barely opened his eyes to the harsh fluorescents of the hospital when the light was blotted out by a dark, blurry shape. He squinted up at it.

“Jeremy!” cried the shape, and suddenly he could make out glasses and a mouth twisted into a frown. Michael.

“What happened?” Jeremy tried to ask, but the words that came out sounded garbled and distant. Michael seemed to understand, though.

“You passed out – I caught you before you could smack your head on the tub, but you were jerking all over the place, dude, I thought you were gonna die, I thought I’d fucked up so badly–”

Jeremy was remembering the events of the party little by little as Michael spoke, but he suddenly realized that the squip was offering no commentary. He reached out to it with his mind, and felt…nothing. Nothing but the mental equivalent of an empty socket, throbbing slightly like a pulled tooth. “Michael,” he said, and his friend fell silent. “Michael, it’s gone. Is it really gone?”

Michael nodded. “Yeah, man. It’s gone. They’re keeping you for observation, but the doctors say you should be okay. But it was scary, for a while, dude. I’m so sorry, I should  _never_ have told you to do that without some sort of plan, don’t know  _what_ I was thinking–”

“Michael, I’m  _fine_ ,” Jeremy said, and it was true – aside from the headache, he felt better than he had in weeks. “I’m _awesome_. You’ve got nothing to be sorry for, ok?”

“But it could’ve _killed_  you–”

Jeremy made to interrupt him again, but someone else got there first. “Dude, will you shut up already?”

Jeremy jerked his head towards the source of the voice and found Rich Goranski laid up in a bed next to his, one hand holding an icepack to his temple. Jeremy sat up to see him better. When Rich spoke again, Jeremy was surprised to hear that he did so with a noticeable lisp. “Mell, you did us a favor. Those things were on their way to killing us anyway.” He sounded deadly serious, and there was something vulnerable in his voice when he continued. “I was already…I was already about to snap when you shut them down, so…nice going, okay?” He grinned. “Stop freaking out.”

Michael still looked unsure, but he had at least stopped apologizing. “Wait. You shut down Rich’s squip, too?” asked Jeremy.

Michael’s face lit up. “Oh man, it was genius! They were communicating with each other – they were linked! Which means… when you consider the kind of high-frequency sonic disturbance needed to wipe a system that powerful…”

Jeremy shut his eyes. “Michael. My head still hurts.”

“Right, ah…turns out you didn’t have to destroy every squip,” Michael concluded sheepishly. “Just one. And the rest…” He mimed an explosion, generating a series of bizarre noises that made Jeremy laugh,  _really_  laugh, for the first time in weeks.

“Apparently we passed out at the same time,” said Rich. “Pretty Freaky Friday, but kinda convenient. At least we saved money sharing an ambulance.”

Jeremy grimaced. “Sorry we didn’t…give you any warning,” he ventured.

Rich scoffed. “Sorry? I’m finally free of that shiny happy hive mind! When I get outta here, the ladies are gonna learn to love the real Richard Goranski.” His mouth, halfway to a smirk, suddenly fell open. His brow furrowed. “And the dudes,” he said slowly, as if just realizing it. “Oh my god. I’m totally bi!”

Jeremy and Michael shared an amused look. “I’m sure some special someone will be lucky to have you, Rich,” Michael managed.

“You think?” Rich asked excitedly.

“Totally,” said Jeremy, smiling.

Michael reached for the curtain separating the two bedspaces. “Mind if we have a minute?”

“Oooh, what are you guys gonna do, make out?” Rich teased, and then, throwing his hands up: “No judgment. Totally bi now.”

Jeremy couldn’t see Michael’s reaction, but suddenly the curtain was drawn and it was just them again. Michael hovered nervously next to the bed.

“How’re you feeling?” he asked quietly.

“ _Fine_ , Michael, I swear. Just have a headache, that’s all – but it beats having a robot in my brain. Seriously.”

“Right,” said Michael. He seemed to be steeling himself for something. “So uh. About last night–”

“Last night,” said Jeremy thickly. “Wait, how long have I been out?”

“Just a few hours,” Michael assured him, sounding eager to get back to his topic now that he’d brought it up. “It’s about noon now. Listen, Jeremy, you kissed me.”

Oh. Right.

“Oh. Right,” said Jeremy. They were silent for a long time.

“Michael, I–”

“We don’t–”

They both stopped abruptly, chuckling. “You first,” offered Jeremy.

Michael cleared his throat and started pacing the room. “Listen, man, I’m glad that worked,” he began, and his blush made it clear exactly what ‘that’ was referring to. “B-but like, I’d get it if it were just a heat-of-the-moment thing, I mean–”

“Michael.”

“–we don’t have to, uh, if you want, we can just pretend it didn’t–”

“Michael!”

Michael froze. “Yeah?”

Jeremy felt his face heat up and stared down at the blankets in his lap. “It…wasn’t a heat-of-the-moment thing.”

“Oh.” Michael drew nearer and sat on the edge of the bed. “What…was it, then?”

No turning back now. “It was more of a…holy shit I’m a little in love with my best friend, k-kind of thing.”

Michael didn’t say anything.

“A lot in love, actually,” Jeremy admitted. Might as well get it all out in the open. He covered his face with his hands.  

“Oh,” Michael breathed.

Jeremy peered through his fingers. “Is that….okay?”

He felt one of Michael’s hands gently cover his own where it rested on his cheek, and pull it slowly away from his face. Jeremy let his right hand fall as well. Michael kept on holding his left.

“Yeah,” said Michael. His thumb traced a pattern over Jeremy’s upturned palm, and Jeremy felt his insides melt. “That’s…that’s definitely okay.” Michael finally looked up from their joined hands. “Cause, um,” he huffed a quiet laugh. “I’m – me too. With you.”

Jeremy felt sure his grin was so wide that it looked unnatural, but he didn’t care. “Awesome,” he breathed. Feeling brave, he used Michael’s hold on his hand to pull the boy closer until their foreheads were touching. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask last time,” he said softly. “But can I kiss you?”

Michael’s eyes were wider than Jeremy had ever seen them. They were shining with something Jeremy hadn’t seen before. “Yeah,” he replied. “That’d be, uh, neat.”

Giggling and giddy, Jeremy closed the few inches between them and pressed their lips together. It was his first kiss without the squip coaching his every movement, but Jeremy wasn’t thinking about that. He was too busy thinking about how Michael’s mouth was moving against his, the way he tasted, how one of his hands had come up to cup Jeremy’s cheek like he was something precious. It was awkward and fumbling, but it was already a thousand times better than his haphazard attempt just a few hours earlier. When they broke apart for air, Michael was smiling.

“You know, it’s all very corny,” he reflected. “Kind of… _Sleeping Beauty_ -ish. My kiss saving you.”

Jeremy laughed. “Uh, I kissed  _you_ , Michael Mell,” he pointed out mock-indignantly. “Twice, now.”

Michael cocked his head. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to get you back,” he decided, tugging Jeremy towards him again. Jeremy went happily, still in disbelief that he was making out with his _best friend_ , who he  _loved_ , because _oh my god._

Jeremy had just settled his hands on Michael’s waist and was enjoying the additional points of contact when he heard several shuffling footsteps in the doorway.

“Oh thank god,  _finally_ ,” said Mr. Heere, taking in the sight of the two teenagers, who pulled apart in a panic at the sound of his voice. He was accompanied by Christine, who was holding several DVDs (Jeremy had the sinking suspicion that one of them was  _Sleeping Beauty_ ) and Jake, who was clutching a teddy bear that could only be for Rich. Christine gave them a jaunty wave.

“I was starting to worry you two were going to dance around each other forever,” said Jeremy’s father bemusedly.

“ARE THEY MAKING OUT?” came Rich’s excited voice from his side of the room. “I TOTALLY CALLED IT! OPEN THIS CURTAIN, I WANNA SEE!”

Everyone, including Jeremy and Michael, burst into surprised laughter.

Later, after the dust had settled – apologies made, explanations given – Jeremy looked around the room. Christine and Rich were singing along to “Once Upon a Dream.” His father (wearing pants!) was laughing at something Jake had said. Michael was stretched out alongside him in the hospital bed, snoring softly. And Jeremy couldn’t help but feel as if this was at least a  _little_  bit like a fairy tale ending.


End file.
